Zika Virus, Parenting Mistakes, Painkillers

Zika Virus, Parenting Mistakes, Painkillers

The Matt Townsend Show - Season 5, Episode 81

  • Apr 4, 2016 1:00 pm
  • 2:02:31 mins

Zika Virus (0:00) Dr. Chantel Sloan is a professor of Health science here at BYU. Chances are, if you have turned the news on recently you’ve seen extensive coverage on the Zika Virus. While this latest outbreak of infectious disease has many worried and scrambling to understand the dangers, the virus is not new to the scientific world. In fact, The Zika virus was first discovered in the 1940s. For years, Zika outbreaks were, and appeared to do little harm. However, within the last year that has all changed. First with the massive outbreak in Brazil, affecting more that 1 million people and now with its continued growth, the whole world is searching for answers about the latest threat in public health. Dr. Sloan discusses the Zika virus, what exactly it is, how it spreads, and the dangers it can bring.  Parenting Mistakes (45:18) Alyson Schafer is a recognized media personality. She is one of Canada's leading authorities on parenting and is the resident expert for CTV News, CBC's The World This Weekend, The Marilyn Denis Show as well as sitting on the health advisory board for Chatelaine Magazine, and being an ask the expert columnist for Today's Parent Magazine. Alyson Schafer shares her ideas on how to fix common parenting mistakes. Painkiller Abuse Epidemic (1:30:53) Dr. Andrew Kolodny, Executive Director and co-founder of Physicians for Responsible Opioid Prescribing (PROP).  In 2014, 19,000 Americans fatally overdosed on prescription opioid painkillers- a 16 percent increase from the previous year. According to government statistics, nearly 1.9 million Americans abuse or are dependent on legal opioids. Many experts claim that the rise in addiction comes from doctors over prescribing addictive opioids (like Vicodin, Percocet, and OxyContin) for minor ailments. In 2012 alone, physicians wrote 259 million opioid prescriptions, triple the number two decades ago. In just the past few years painkillers have become one of the largest health epidemics in our country and the doctors prescribing may be the source. Dr. Kolodney shares the facts of painkiller abuse.

Episode Segments

Painkiller Abuse Epidemic

32m

Dr. Andrew Kolodny, Executive Director and co-founder of Physicians for Responsible Opioid Prescribing (PROP).  In 2014, 19,000 Americans fatally overdosed on prescription opioid painkillers- a 16 percent increase from the previous year. According to government statistics, nearly 1.9 million Americans abuse or are dependent on legal opioids. Many experts claim that the rise in addiction comes from doctors over prescribing addictive opioids (like Vicodin, Percocet, and OxyContin) for minor ailments. In 2012 alone, physicians wrote 259 million opioid prescriptions, triple the number two decades ago. In just the past few years painkillers have become one of the largest health epidemics in our country and the doctors prescribing may be the source. Dr. Kolodney shares the facts of painkiller abuse.

Dr. Andrew Kolodny, Executive Director and co-founder of Physicians for Responsible Opioid Prescribing (PROP).  In 2014, 19,000 Americans fatally overdosed on prescription opioid painkillers- a 16 percent increase from the previous year. According to government statistics, nearly 1.9 million Americans abuse or are dependent on legal opioids. Many experts claim that the rise in addiction comes from doctors over prescribing addictive opioids (like Vicodin, Percocet, and OxyContin) for minor ailments. In 2012 alone, physicians wrote 259 million opioid prescriptions, triple the number two decades ago. In just the past few years painkillers have become one of the largest health epidemics in our country and the doctors prescribing may be the source. Dr. Kolodney shares the facts of painkiller abuse.